Show Me The Way

Most songs, including today’s modern songs, have been influenced in some way by Classical Era songs. Today’s modern songs can be analyzed in the same way you would a Classical Era song and most of today’s songs contain similar characteristics to Classical Era art songs. Analyzing things such as form, texture, instrumentation, timbre, and other characteristics can help better understand modern songs and show how they are similar to their Classical predecessors. For my song, I chose Show Me the Way by the band Styx. While it is not quite a modern song due to its release in the early 1990’s, it is still relevant and can still be analyzed in a similar way to other Classical Era art songs. Show Me the Way is a through-composed song with a polyphonic texture. The instrumentation for the song is unique from most modern songs. It includes a keyboard that sounds similar to an organ at the beginning and ending of the song and a regular keyboard during the middle of the song. The middle of the song also features an electric guitar and drums including several snare drum sounding parts.

However, it becomes more prominent in the middle of the song when the drums begin. This also gives it a flexible sounding tempo. The beginning and ending of the song sound much slower than the middle when all the instruments are playing together. The song contains what sounds like a duple meter which is easier to hear in the middle of the song thanks to the more prominent beat. For me, I hear two melodies that are easy to remember. The main chorus is the most prominent melody. I also believe the line “every night I say a prayer” is a prominent melody because it is the first and last line one hears in the song. Of course, there is harmony within the song between the main vocalist’s voice and the backup vocals. These vocals combine to form a consonant chord with a very clear timbre to the main vocalist’s